Dramatic Increase in Kidney Disease in the US and Abroad Linked To Roundup (Glyphosate) ‘Weedkiller’.

Last month, we reported on a mysterious global epidemic of fatal kidney disease, focusing on a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1 that laid down evidence showing the herbicide Roundup (glyphosate) is responsible for an epidemic of kidney-related deaths in a rural farming region of Northern Sri Lanka, as well as other rural regions around the world, including Costa Rica and Nicaragua. You can review the report here: Roundup Weedkiller Linked To Global Epidemic of Fatal Kidney Disease.

This information, while shocking to many who still consider glyphosate herbicide and the GM food produced with it to be relatively non-toxic, is not surprising to those who have been tracking the published research on glyphosate’s wide ranging harmful effects, and which now shows a link between glyphosate and several dozen health conditions. You can view the first-hand toxicological citations here: Adverse Health Effects of Glyphosate Formulations.

Now that the world seems to be paying closer attention to the fact that the primary agrichemical used in the farming of genetically modified crops has deleterius, if not deadly, consequences to exposed populations, including kidney harm, it is only logical to ask the question if the US, which has the highest amount of glyphosate usage in the world, is also experiencing kidney harm as a result of widespread daily exposure.

A series of graphs based on data from the USDA, National Cancer Institutes, Centers for Disease Control, have recently surfaced, depicting at steep rise in the rates of kidney disease in the US from the time of the introduction of glyphosate and GM food, reveals that the US may also be suffering from an epidemic of glyphosate-linked kidney damage.

The first graph below depicts the ‘Age Adjusted Acute Renal Failure Deaths’ in the US from 1981 to 2009 plotted against the percentage of GE soy and corn planted, and the tonnage of glyphosate applied to corn and soy, showing death rates more than doubling over the past 30 years.